At first, the murder scene appears sad, but not unusual: a young woman undone by drugs and prostitution, her six-year-old daughter dead alongside her. But then detectives find a strange piece of evidence in the squalid house: the platinum credit card of a very wealthy - and long dead - steel tycoon. What is a heroin-addicted hooker doing with the credit card of a well-known and powerful man who died months ago? This is the question that the most junior member of the investigative team, Detective Constable Fiona Griffiths, is assigned to answer.

White Nights: A Thriller: Shetland, Book 2

In this second audiobook of the Shetland Quartet to feature Inspector Jimmy Perez, the launch of an exhibition at The Herring House art gallery is disturbed by a stranger who bursts into tears, then claims not to remember who he is or where he comes from. The next day he's found dead, wearing a clown's mask.

Hunted

Get hooked on Heck: the maverick detective who knows no boundaries. A grisly whodunit you won't be able to put down, perfect for fans of Stuart MacBride and TV series Luther. Heck needs to watch his back. Because someone's watching him... Across the south of England, a series of bizarre but fatal accidents are taking place. So when a local businessman survives a near-drowning but is found burnt alive in his car just weeks later, DS Mark 'Heck' Heckenburg is brought in to investigate.

Evil Games

When a rapist is found mutilated in a brutal attack, Detective Kim Stone and her team are called in to bring a swift resolution. But, as more vengeful killings come to light, it soon becomes clear that there is someone far more sinister at work.

Dreamless

A promising young singer is found dead in a clearing in a forest, gruesomely murdered - her larynx cut out and an antique music box placed carefully atop her body, playing a mysterious lullaby that sounds familiar but that no one can quite place. Chief Inspector Odd Singsaker, of the Trondheim Police Department, still recovering from brain surgery, is called in to investigate.

Thin Air: A Shetland Mystery

A group of old university friends leave the bright lights of London and travel to Shetland to celebrate the marriage of one of their friends. But one of them, Eleanor, disappears - apparently into thin air. It's midsummer, a time of light nights and unexpected mists. And then Eleanor's body is discovered lying in a small loch close to the cliff edge.

The Nature of the Beast: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel

Hardly a day goes by when nine-year-old Laurent Lepage doesn't cry wolf. From alien invasions to walking trees to winged beasts in the woods to dinosaurs spotted in the village of Three Pines, his tales are so extraordinary no one can possibly believe him. Including Armand and Reine-Marie Gamache, who now live in the little Quebec village.

Silent Voices: A Vera Stanhope Mystery

When Inspector Vera Stanhope finds the body of a woman in the sauna room of her local gym, she wonders briefly if, for once in her life, she's uncovered a simple death from natural causes. But a closer inspection reveals bruises around the victim's throat, and Vera quickly realizes she has a murder on her hands.

The Kill

Their job is to investigate crime - not become the victims... A killer is terrorising London but this time the police are the targets. Urgently re-assigned to investigate a series of brutal attacks on fellow officers, Maeve Kerrigan and her boss Josh Derwent have little idea what motivates the killer's fury against the force. But they know it will only be a matter of time before the killer strikes again.

Raven Black: Book One of the Shetland Island Quartet

It is a cold January morning, and Shetland lies beneath a deep layer of snow. Trudging home, Fran Hunter's eye is drawn to a splash of color on the frozen ground, ravens circling above. It is the strangled body of her teenage neighbor, Catherine Ross. The locals on the quiet island stubbornly focus their gaze on one man - loner and simpleton Magnus Tait.

Doctor Death: A Madeleine Karno Mystery

Madeleine Karno is an ambitious young woman eager to shatter the confines of her provincial French town. Driven and strong headed, Madeleine is set apart by her unusual occupation: assisting her father, Dr. Albert Karno, in his job as a forensic doctor.

The Slaughter Man

On New Year’s Day, a wealthy family is found slaughtered inside their exclusive gated community in north London, their youngest child stolen away. The murder weapon is a gun for stunning cattle, leading Detective Max Wolfe to a dusty corner of Scotland Yard’s Black Museum devoted to a killer who thirty years ago was known as the Slaughter Man. But the Slaughter Man is now old and dying. Can he really be back in the game?

The Stranger You Know

He meets women. He gains their trust. He kills them. That's all London police detective Maeve Kerrigan knows about the man she is hunting. Three women have been strangled in their homes, and it appears to be the work of the same sadistic killer. With no sign of break-ins, every indication shows that the women let their attacker in willingly. The victims' neighbors and friends don't seem to remember anything unusual or suspicious, and Maeve is almost at a loss about how to move forward with the investigation.

The Ghost Fields: Ruth Galloway, Book 7

Norfolk is experiencing a July heat wave when a construction crew unearths a macabre discovery - a buried World War II plane with the pilot still inside. Forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway quickly realizes that the skeleton couldn't possibly be the pilot, and DNA tests identify the man as Fred Blackstock, a local aristocrat who had been reported dead at sea. When the remaining members of the Blackstock family learn about the discovery, they seem strangely frightened by the news.

Plague Land

In this chilling historical mystery, young girls go missing from a medieval English village, and Lord Oswald de Lacy must find the killer before tragedy strikes again. Oswald de Lacy was never meant to be the lord of Somershill Manor. Dispatched to a monastery at the age of seven, sent back at 17 when his father and two older brothers were killed by the plague, Oswald has no experience of running an estate.

The Second Deadly Sin

After successfully tracking down and killing a rogue bear in the wilderness of northern Sweden, a group of hunters is shaken by a grisly discovery when they dress the bear carcass: human remains in the stomach. Far away in the remote village of Kurravaara, an elderly woman is found murdered with frenzied brutality, crude abuse scrawled above her bloodied bed. Her young grandson, known to live with her, is nowhere to be found.

Closed for Winter

The summer cottages are closed, and peace is settling over the coast of Vestfold, but the autumn fog conceals evil deeds. Ove Bakkerud’s cottage is ransacked by burglars, and next door he discovers the body of a man who has been beaten to death. Police Inspector William Wisting is uneasy; the desperation he sees in this latest murder is troubling. Meanwhile dead birds are dropping from the sky.

Invisible City

Just months after Rebekah Roberts was born, her mother, an Hasidic Jew from Brooklyn, abandoned her Christian boyfriend and newborn baby to return to her religion. Neither Rebekah nor her father have heard from her since. Now a recent college graduate, Rebekah has moved to New York City to follow her dream of becoming a big-city reporter.

No Place to Die

DS Jane Bennett takes charge of South London's Lewisham murder squad following the temporary suspension of her boss, DI Mike Lockyer. His involvement with a female witness resulted in her murder. Mike returns to work, but he's a shadow of the detective he was a few months before. Bennett gets a desperate call from an old friend to say that her husband, retired colleague Mark Leech, has gone missing. Blood spatters found in the home suggest she doesn't have long to find him.

Blue Lightning: A Thriller

Inspector Jimmy Perez takes his fiance home to Fair Isle, the tiny island he comes from, to meet his parents. The island is a magnet for bird watchers, who congregate at the local inn and lighthouse. When a local married celebrity who had an eye for the lads is murdered, Perez discovers that the suspects are very close to him indeed.

The Red Road: A Novel

Alex Morrow faces her toughest opponents yet in this brilliant new thriller about criminals, consequences, and convictions. Police detective Alex Morrow has met plenty of unsavory characters in her line of work, but arms dealer Michael Brown ranks among the most brutal and damaged of the criminals she's known. Morrow is serving as a witness in Brown's trial, where the case hinges on his fingerprints found on the guns he sells.

The Harvest Man: Scotland Yard's Murder Squad, Book 4

In The Devil's Workshop, London discovered that Jack the Ripper was back, sending the city - and Scotland Yard's Murder Squad - into chaos. But now it is even worse. Not only is the Ripper still at large, but so is another killer just as bad.

Gun Street Girl: A Detective Sean Duffy Novel, The Troubles, Book 4

Belfast, 1985. Amid the Troubles, Detective Sean Duffy, a Catholic cop in the Protestant Royal Ulster Constabulary, struggles with burnout as he investigates a brutal double murder and suicide. Did Michael Kelly really shoot his parents at point-blank range and then jump off a nearby cliff? A suicide note points to this conclusion, but Duffy suspects even more sinister circumstances.

The Lewis Man: The Lewis Trilogy

In The Lewis Man, the second book of the trilogy, Fin Macleod has returned to the Isle of Lewis, the storm-tossed, wind-scoured outer Hebridean island where he was born and raised. Having left behind his adult life in Edinburgh - including his wife and his career in the police force - the former Detective Inspector is intent on repairing past relationships and restoring his parents' derelict cottage. His plans are interrupted when an unidentified corpse is recovered from a Lewis peat bog.

Dead Man's Time

New York, 1922. Five-year-old Gavin Daly and his seven-year-old sister, Aileen, are boarding the SS Mauretania to Dublin - and safety. As the ship sails, Gavin watches Manhattan fade into the dusk and makes a promise, that one day he will return and find his father. Brighton, 2012. Detective Superintendent Roy Grace investigates a savage burglary in Brighton. As his investigation probes deeper, he realizes he has kicked over a hornet's nest of new and ancient hatreds. At its heart is one man, Gavin Daly, the dead woman’s 95-year-old brother.

Publisher's Summary

A mesmerizing and thrilling novel - perfect for fans of Tana French and Stieg Larsson - that introduces a modern, unforgettable rookie cop whose past is as fascinating and as deadly as the crimes she investigates.

She knows what it's like....

At first, the murder scene appears sad, but not unusual: a young woman undone by drugs and prostitution, her six-year-old daughter dead alongside her. But then detectives find a strange piece of evidence in the squalid house: the platinum credit card of a very wealthy - and long dead - steel tycoon. What is a heroin-addicted hooker doing with the credit card of a well-known and powerful man who died months ago? This is the question that the most junior member of the investigative team, Detective Constable Fiona Griffiths, is assigned to answer.

But D.C. Griffiths is no ordinary cop. She’s earned a reputation at police headquarters in Cardiff, Wales, for being odd, for not picking up on social cues, for being a little overintense. And there’s that gap in her past, the two-year hiatus that everyone assumes was a breakdown. But Fiona is a crack investigator, quick and intuitive. She is immediately drawn to the crime scene, and to the tragic face of the six-year-old girl, who she is certain has something to tell her...something that will break the case wide open.

Ignoring orders and protocol, Fiona begins to explore far beyond the rich man’s credit card and into the secrets of her seaside city. And when she uncovers another dead prostitute, Fiona knows that she’s only begun to scratch the surface of a dark world of crime and murder. But the deeper she digs, the more danger she risks - not just from criminals and killers but from her own past...and the abyss that threatens to pull her back at any time.

....Harry Bingham's thriller *is* evocative and will keep your interest if you're a fan of police procedurals. Some of it seems trite (the main character is always in trouble with her boss ala Dirty Harry) but it really pokes and prods at how a lot of us feel like like 'the outsider in society.' Siriol Jenkins' lilting narration is astonishing, truly, and the voice Bingham gives to protagonist Fiona Griffiths is haunting, lonely and finely spun. Fiona is forever wrestling with her instincts and the rules of society, often coming out the loser. And, of course, there are two grisly murders to contend with.

I must admit after reading so many negative reviews on my book site, I had to read it and see why women were trashing the protagonist.

I am no writer, scholar, well versed critic, but I only found one comment that was questionable, and it was only questionable if taken literally.

I really enjoyed the storyline, pace, character development and overall cohesiveness. The only flaw in my limited opinion was the character development didn't extend to some of the characters I would have liked to know more about... I think that speaks almost as a positive. Bingham created scenes and people I wanted to know more about without making them seem one dimensional. Sorry I'm sure that makes no sense to anyone but me hahaha.

I felt it was well worth the credit but don't expect gripping thrills or car chases, this is more of a story and less of a mystery. Similar to Tana French, but only slightly.

It is very difficult to write a review of a book, like this. I almost don't know who to credit more, the author or the narrator. Frankly, if it were allowed, I'd give many more than 5 stars.

Trying not to provide a spoiler (very difficult), in what should be a pretty straightforward procedural, I suddenly find myself looking at this more as a character study, or a series of such that comes to a not unexpected and logical conclusion...just not the one I was expecting.

Ms. Jenkins provides the absolute right voice for a young heroine trying to find herself and her voice in a situation for which she was not brought up or, for that matter, educated.

At this point, I can only hope that this is the start of a series. It is certainly valid as a stand-alone, but I want to know more about our detective, who has the potential to out Morse Morse.

"Talking to the Dead" is a very interesting detective novel about a young policewoman (Fiona Griffiths) who is dealing with a debilitating, mental illness while still having to perform her investigative duties.

I enjoyed this book. I found the lead character to be someone who I wanted to learn more about... a person that I wanted to know. The story revolves around the killing of a prostitute and her daughter, and the sex trafficking in Europe. Throughout the story, I was fascinated by Fiona's 'unique' reaction to events unfolding around her. Fiona has her own methods of detection, and they do not always conform to standard police procedure and protocol (which does nothing to endear her to her colleagues). That said, Fiona's quirks actually help her to be an excellent detective, adding a level of intrigue to the plot.

This novel has been compared to the books by Stieg Larsson, and not without justification. Although I found Bingham's writing not quite up to the very high bar set by Larsson, this book is still quite well-written. The ending of "Talking to the Dead" was very suspenseful and powerful. Siriol Jenkins does a superb job with the narration, covering a wide range of voices extremely well. Harry Bingham has created a character that I hope to see again, very soon. Don't miss this one!

This is a new-to-me author and narrator. I had this on my Wish List for about six months before I decided to pull the trigger. The narrator was good enough with a competent style and nothing in her delivery that really annoyed me. The book, for at least the first two thirds was a solid four stars. Then it took a weird turn that left me scratching my head.

Fiona Griffith is a young Detective Constable. She has a degree in philosophy, a mystery in her past, and a family background which makes her choice of working for the police an interesting one.

One day as she is trying cope with the audit of a bent, embezzling copper's accounts that she is readying for the Crown Prosecution Service, she is handed a credit card that had been found at a horrific crime scene. The card belonged to a very rich man who had gone down in a plane wreck. However the crime scene where the card was found was a squalid squat where a sometime prostitute and her six year old daughter have been found dead in circumstances that the police find appalling.

Intrigued, Fiona wants to become involved with the investigation of the murders. Her obsessive interest in the murder victims is both interesting and a bit cringe inducing.

Fast paced and interesting, the vague hints about Fiona's past as well as the events of the story kept me intrigued up to the point that the martial arts expert showed up. Uh, what? It lost some steam about then and I ended up finishing it but not with the same pleasure that I had read the earlier part. This is supposed to be the first Fiona Griffiths book so I did wonder if he was sequel bait. I would be more likely a read a sequel if the author promised me the martial artist wasn't going to be part of the plot.

Anyway, after thinking about it I decided that this was for the majority of the book a 3.75 star read which I rounded up to 4. I'm not sorry I read it and I would more likely than not give the author and narrator another shot.

Talking to the Dead was a fantastic surprise. Made all the better by a fantastic narrator. I hope Audible wastes no time acquiring the sequel for American audiences. (available in the U.K., but that doesn't help me)

Detective Constable Fiona Griffiths is someone that you might not want to work with, but you'll love being in her head. She's difficult, funny, too smart, and always surprising. She's obsessed with the murder of a former "prozzy" and her six year old daughter, a case that connects with a dead millionaire and a bent cop. Fiona's extraordinary and hilarious observations keep the plot humming along. If you like Denise Mina's working class heroines you'll love Fiona. Siriol Jenkins' narration brings her to vivid life, excellent job!

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